An FIR was drawn against Ratna Chatterjee, the Trinamool candidate from Behala West, while six party activists were arrested after a BJP leader lodged a complaint alleging that they vandalised the election office of its candidate Indranil Khan in Parnashree on Sunday afternoon.
A senior Election Commission official said the FIR was drawn up after the poll panel instructed the police to act on the complaint.
“The complaint was lodged by Manoj Halder, the administrative officer in charge of the BJP, alleging that he was wrongfully restrained, and one of his associates, Uptal Dutta, was assaulted, the election office on Upen Banerjee Road in Parnashree was vandalised, and a laptop was stolen,” a senior Kolkata Police officer said.
CCTV footage showed a group barging into Khan’s election office around 2pm on Sunday and pulling down a board, the police said.
Eyewitnesses told the police that a scuffle broke out between two groups outside the election office after the alleged vandalism.
Khan, the BJP candidate from the Behala West Assembly constituency, later went to Parnashree police station with supporters and staged a demonstration when Chatterjee arrived with her supporters.
Later, Amit Malviya, national convener of the BJP’s IT cell, posted the purported CCTV footage of the alleged attack on his X handle.
Senior officers of Kolkata Police said that two of the six arrested were residents of Upen Banerjee Road. The four others are from Parnashree Pally, Indira Devi Road, Bangasshree Pally and KD Mukherjee Road.
Chatterjee said she was not present when the alleged attack took place. “I wasn’t present at the site. I was at home. We are now under the ECI. If it feels that an FIR should be filed against me, what can I say?” Chatterjee said.
